1. in a large mixing bowl, place 1 1/4 cups oats. pour 1 cup boiling water over the oats. gently mix, for about 10 seconds, with wooden spoon to moisten all the oats. let sit in bowl, gently stirring once or twice, for ten minutes.

2. in a small mixing bowl, place 2 teaspoons of yeast. add 1/4 cup of warm water. whisk it for ten seconds or until the yeast mixes into the water. let rest for 5 minutes.

3. return your attention to the large mixing bowl with (now) soaked oats. add: the yeast mixture, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 3 1/2 cups white flour, and 2 teaspoons salt. mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon for about 5-7 minutes or when the mixture falls off the side of the bowl and begins to converge as a manageable blob-like structure.

4. take the manageable blob-like structure from the mixing bowl and place it onto a clean, well floured surface. knead it for 10 - 12 minutes. while kneading, add about a 1/2 a cup, 1/8 cup at a time, of white flour. the dough is ready when it becomes ball-like. also: when poked with a finger, it bounces quickly back to shape.

5. place dough in oiled (lightly, either with butter or oil) medium bowl and cover with a towel. put the towel-covered bowl in a place where it's warm and not subject to sudden breezes. let the dough do its thing for 1 hour. go have fun.

6. transfer dough from bowl to floured surface. knead and coddle dough for 1-2 minutes, or until all the air bubbles are worked out of the dough. cut resulting dough into two same-sized chunks. gently smoosh and guide dough into bread-like loaves. place loaves into oiled bread pans. cover pans with a towel and place where it's warm for 35-45 minutes or when the dough has nearly doubled in size.

7. at some point during step 6, preheat oven to 385 F.

8. remove the towel from the bread pans. with your hands or a water sprayer, flick drops of water on the top of the loaves. with the flicked water serving as a glue, sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of oats on the top of each loaf. place into oven and cook at 385 F for 1 hour. remove loaves from oven and let sit, still in pans, for 30 minutes. run a knife along the sides of the pan to loosen and then flip the pan to remove loaf. let the loaves sit for at least 15 minutes (preferably) before diving into it.

Monday, January 26, 2009

one of the magical things about working at USF is its proximity to golden gate park. the western tip of campus is a whopping one block away from the north-eastern tip of the park. east to west, golden gate park stretches around 3.5 miles and leads directly to the pacific ocean. weather permitting, this is the walk i always try to take on the day before the first day of classes.

in some ways, the two classes are totally different. in digital media production, or dmp, all of the readings are online, free, and in multiple forms of media; in eating san francisco, or esf, nearly all of our reading comes from three books. in dmp, students will log on, tune in, and create, participate, and collaborate; in esf, we'll spend a lot of our time logged off, eating real food and doing walkabouts around the city.

in another way, though, the classes are extremely similar. both require students to learn and use digital platforms to research, present, and share their work. although dmp will be more systematic in its coverage of web 2.0 tools, students in both courses will design, create, and publicly share their findings via platforms like flickr, facebook, twitter, blogs, google maps, yelp, and zotero.

with new classes, new students, and a new president, spring has potential.

EATING SAN FRANCISCO is a special topics media studies seminar focusing on food, culture, and the city of San Francisco. In this course, we will a) read books and watch films to better appreciate the relationships between food and culture, b) take field trips and arrange dinners to better understand San Francisco's diverse neighborhoods and cultures, c) learn how to cook and document a delicious meal made entirely of seasonal, regional ingredients, and d) learn about and how to use appropriate forms of social media to present and share our findings.

February 11Read:o Margaret Coyle, “Il Timpano - To Eat Good Food Is to Be Close to God”: The Italian-American Reconciliation of Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott’s Big Night,” from Reel Food, pp. 41-59.o Marlisa Santos, “Leave the Gun; Take the Cannoli: Food and Family in the Modern American Mafia Film,” from Reel Food, pp. 209-218.o Bernie Lubell, Dean MacCannell, and Juliet Flower MacCannell, “You Are Here (You Think): A San Francisco Bus Tour,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 137-150.Watch (prior to class):o Big Night (Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, 1996).

February 18Read:o Nancy J. Peters, “The Beat Generation and San Francisco’s Culture of Dissent,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 199-215.o James Brook, “Remarks on the Poetic Transformation of San Francisco,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 123-135.Field trip: class meets in North Beach for dinner and walkabout.

March 4Read:o Timothy W. Drescher, “Street Subversion: The Political Geography of Murals and Graffiti,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 231-246.o Juan Felipe Herrera, “Riffs on Mission District Raza Writers,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 217-230.o Randy Shaw, “Tenant Power in San Francisco,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 287-300.Field trip: class meets in the Mission for dinner and walkabout.

March 18o Readings, film, and meeting place to be determined by students.

March 25: SPRING BREAK!

April 1Read:o David Greven, “Engorged with Desire: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock and the Gendered Politics of Eating,” from Reel Food, pp. 297-310.o Gayle S. Rubin, “The Miracle Mile: South of Market and Gay Male Leather, 1962-1997," from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 247-272.o Marina McDougall and Hope Mitnick, “Location: San Francisco,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 151-161.

April 8Watch:o The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein, 1984).o Milk (Gus Van Sant, 2008).Field trip: class meets in the Castro for dinner and a walkabout.

April 15Read:o Michael Ashkenazi, “Food, Play, Business, and the Image of Japan in Itami Juzo’s Tampopo,” from Reel Food, pp. 27-40.o Pete Holloran, “Seeing the Trees Through the Forest: Oaks and History in the Presidio,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 333-352.o James Lyons, “What About the Popcorn? Food and the Film-Watching Experience,” from Reel Food, pp. 311-333.Watch:o Tampopo (Juzo Itami, 1985).

May 6Read:o Michael Pollan, “Pastoral Grass,” from The Omnivore’s Dilemma, pp. 123-273.o Jesse Drew, “Call Any Vegetable: The Politics of Food in San Francisco,” from Reclaiming San Francisco, pp. 317-331.Watch:o The Real Dirt on Farmer John (Taggart Siegel, 2005).

If you are concerned about your grade, you may request a meeting with me anytime during the semester.

RULES:1. No late work accepted.2. In class and during field trips, try your best to listen to and learn from everyone.3. Starting February 4, no drinking out of non-reusable containers in class. Be creative with your thirst-quenching solutions.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

eating san francisco requires students a) to read books and watch films to better understand the relationships between food and culture, b) to take field trips and arrange dinners to better understand san francisco's diverse neighborhoods and cultures, c) to learn how to cook and document at least one delicious meal, and d) to learn and use appropriate forms of social media to present and share their findings.

nearly all of our reading comes from three books: reel food: essays on food and film, edited by anne l. bower (routledge, 2004); reclaiming san francisco: history, politics, culture, edited by james brook, chris carlsson & nancy j. peters (city lights books, 1998); and the omnivore’s dilemma: a natural history of four meals, by michael pollan (penguin, 2006). and along the way, we'll watch films like big night (stanley tucci and campbell scott, 1996); like water for chocolate (alfonso arau, 1993); the cook, the thief, his wife and her lover (peter greenaway, 1989); and the real dirt on farmer john (taggart siegel, 2005).

eating san francisco includes multiple field trips. because the class meets in the evening (weds, 6:15-9 pm), our field trips will include dinners and walkabouts. probable destinations are north beach, the mission, castro, haight-ashbury, and USF's organic garden. and i hope students will agree to meet once on a saturday, for dim sum, in chinatown.

eating san francisco will no doubt be delicious, but it will also be demanding. i expect students to fully research san francisco's diverse histories, foods, cultures, and neighborhoods. i expect students to creatively and collaboratively document, through words, photography, and video, their experiences and explorations across the city. and i expect students to learn how to cook and document a delicious meal made entirely of seasonal, regional ingredients.

with sarah away at a library conference in denver, i've been working day and night on the syllabus. with luck, i'll post it this weekend.

Digital Media Production is a special topics course designed around making and sharing digital media. In the next fifteen weeks, we will make digital media using facebook, twitter, flickr, blogs, google maps, online video, yelp, zotero, google docs, and wikipedia. Readings and discussions about digital media culture and theory will accompany our production and participation. On Tuesdays, we will discuss the readings. On Thursdays, we will demo our work. If you have no new work on Demo Day, do not come to class.

Learning Goals (in order of increasing importance):1. To learn a bit about digital media culture and theory;2. To learn a lot about digital media modes of participation;3. To learn how to use digital media creatively and effectively;4. To learn how to use digital media collectively and collaboratively; and5. To learn how to learn new tools quickly and independently.

Week 15:Tuesday, May 5o Marshall Poe, The Hive, The Atlantic, September 2006.o Selections from Alan Ziajka, Legacy & Promise: 150 years of Jesuit education at the University of San Francisco (Association of Jesuit University Presses, 2005).Thursday, May 7o Demo Day: wikipedia

If you are concerned about your grade, you can request a meeting with me anytime during the semester.

Rulez:1. Read all assigned readings prior to class.2. In class, listen to and learn from everyone.3. No late work accepted.4. Starting January 29, no drinking out of non-reusable containers in class. Be creative with your thirst-quenching solutions.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

i've been working hard on the syllabus for one of my two new spring courses - digital media production. the syllabus is about two-thirds finished. classes begin january 26.

it's a media production class and i expect my students to produce a lot of media. for fifteen weeks, we will make digital media using facebook, flickr, blogs, twitter, google maps, online video, yelp, zotero, google docs, and wikipedia. readings and discussions about digital media culture and theory will accompany our production and participation.

the course readings come more from popular magazines than academic articles or books. for example, to better understand facebook and flickr, we are reading clive thompson's "brave new world of digital intimacy" from new york times magazine. to learn about blogs, we'll read emily gould's "exposed" from new york times magazine and andrew sullivan's "why i blog" from the atlantic. to help us understand wikipedia, we'll be reading stacy schiff's "know it all: can wikipedia conquer expertise?" from the new yorker and marshall poe's "the hive" from the atlantic. and to further our understanding of fanfic and user-generated content, we'll read henry jenkins's "why heather can write" from technology review. course readings also include short (think common craft), shorter (10-20 minute), and longer (one hour) videos to be watched prior to class.

question: can you suggest any other feature articles from similar sources that explore twitter or yelp?

over winter break, i've been reading books about black mountain college, the unique and inspiring experimental college (1933-1957) near asheville, north carolina. i am particularly struck by the teaching practices of josef albers. albers' class met twice a week and classtime was spent not making art but discussing art - student art. as martin duberman notes in his book black mountain, albers' students were admitted into class only if they brought with them some work they had done in the interval between classes. albers would then spread all the art on the floor and each student would take turns explaining his or her work. after the brief presentation, the student was critiqued, challenged, and praised by their fellow students as well as by albers.

i am an associate professor of environmental studies and urban ag at the university of san francisco. i live in oakland with sarah and our daughter siena. contact me via the email address listed on this page.